Sunday might be super for local commercial maker

Feb. 4, 2010

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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Matt Gahan, 27, of San Clemente shows a still from a TV commercial titled "Casual Friday." He submitted the concept in a Careerbuilder.com contest and now is one of two finalists. The winning concept will appear as a commercial during Sunday's Super Bowl. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Matt Gahan of San Clemente submitted a video concept for a TV commercial for CareerBuilder that might air during the Super Bowl. Gahan owns a new film production company, 18 Stone Giant. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Matt Gahan, who already has won $100,000 as a finalist in Careerbuilder.com's "Hire My TV Ad" contest, now hopes his "Casual Friday" concept airs during Sunday's Super Bowl. "I have to imagine that it's going to mean something huge for our careers," he said. "Not many people can say that they've had their concept air on the Super Bowl." PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Matt Gahan, 27, of San Clemente shows a still from a TV commercial titled "Casual Friday." He submitted the concept in a Careerbuilder.com contest and now is one of two finalists. The winning concept will appear as a commercial during Sunday's Super Bowl. PAUL BERSEBACH, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Possibly no one in Orange County will be watching Sunday's Super Bowl on TV with more anticipation than San Clemente's Matt Gahan.

Not the football game – the commercials.

Gahan, a 27-year-old surfer, is a fledgling film producer with his own start-up company. Last summer he entered a nationwide "Hire My TV Ad" contest at www.careerbuilder.com. His tongue-in-cheek video, "Casual Friday," was selected as one of three finalists from nearly 1,000 entries.

His comedy scenario was, "How far can you go with Casual Friday?"

If a "Casual Friday" commercial based on his concept appears on the screen Sunday during a break in the second quarter of the Super Bowl, it could be a major career builder for Gahan and his new company, 18 Stone Giant.

Gahan plans to gather friends and relatives to watch the game at his father's house in the Shorecliffs neighborhood. If you hear a sudden eruption from the Gahan home, you will know he won.

"I'm sure everyone is just going to scream and yell," Gahan said.

Already he is a winner. CareerBuilder was so impressed with the creativity of the video entries it received that it decided not to award a $100,000 first prize and a $50,000 consolation. Instead, the three finalists were awarded $100,000 each and invited to Los Angeles. There, CareerBuilder filmed a prospective Super Bowl commercial based on each of the three concepts. One of the three was eliminated when CBS decided its flatulence theme wasn't suitable for TV.

So it's down to "Casual Friday" and "Job Fairy," a concept submitted by Joan Napoleon, a multimedia analyst from Cliffwood, N.J.

You can see the finalists' original video submittals, see how CareerBuilder translated them into a prospective Super Bowl commercial and vote for your favorite at www.careerbuilder.com/tv.

Whatever happens Sunday, Gahan is thrilled.

"Obviously the money was huge," he said, "and it's just going to help us continue making films and commercials. But if it actually airs in the Super Bowl, I have to imagine that it's going to mean something huge for our careers. Not many people can say that they've had their concept air on the Super Bowl."

For CareerBuilder, the contest is a big expense, but Cynthia McIntyre, senior director of advertising, says getting a message out to the Super Bowl's TV audience of 90 million-plus has proved its worth yearly since the company began airing commercials in the 2005 Super Bowl.

"Obviously we wouldn't be back for the sixth year if we didn't see the results from it," she said. "This year is our first year with a consumer-driven contest, just overwhelmed by the quality of work. If you look at our creative work, it's always sort of based on consumer truths. We decided, 'Well, why not go to the job seekers out there and have them tell their stories of unfortunate workplaces, unfortunate work situations, bad bosses or co-workers?' ... What is the impetus for them to search for a new job?"

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